Trinity 7
Mk
8:1-9
7/15/18
In the normal circumstances of our
day to day life, we are never in the situation when we can’t get food. Now I am not talking about those times when
we adults must face that eternal and dreaded question: “What’s for dinner
tonight?” As soon as mom no longer makes
your food that becomes a daily question, and its answer only becomes more
difficult once you have children of your own.
No instead, I am referring to the
more basic issue of being able to get
food. If your refrigerator or pantry is empty and you don’t see anything in
there to eat, you can always go to the grocery store and you will have several
different options from which to choose.
In each one you will find an almost endless variety of food you can buy. If instead you decide you don’t want to make
anything, you can always go out to eat.
And in this too, you will have many options – all different kinds of
food in a variety of different settings.
However, if you are out on the highway,
you can run into some difficulties. All
areas are not developed to the same extent.
There are stretches in rural areas where you may not be able to find a
place to eat. Forget about a restaurant
or fast food place, if you are really hungry you may be glad just to find a gas
station where you can get some kind of snack to tide you over.
In the Gospel lesson for today, the
disciples believe that the issue of location
stands at the center of a food problem.
Our text begins by saying: “In
those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat,
he called his disciples to him and said to them, ‘I have compassion on the
crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And
if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some
of them have come from far away.’”
Our Lord
was teaching a large crowd of people – we learn at the end of our Gospel lesson
that there were about four thousand.
They were there to hear Jesus teach, and no doubt hoped to see the
miracles that he performed. After three
days of this, Jesus raised a concern to the disciples. The Lord had compassion on the crowd because
they now had nothing to eat. Certainly
anything they had brought with them was consumed. They had no food and were hungry. Jesus expressed concern that if he just sent
them away, some who were weakened might in fact faint.
In response
the disciples said, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this
desolate place?” Their concern was the setting.
They were in an uninhabited area near the Sea of Galilee. There was no food available there, and so how
was it possible to feed a group of people – especially one this large?
Mark
introduces our text by saying, “In
those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat.” He very intentionally calls our attention to
an earlier event in the Gospel. In
chapter six Jesus had gone to a deserted place and was followed by a crowd.
There the Lord taught them, until late in the day, when the disciples
approached Jesus and asked him to send the people away so that they could go
and buy something to eat. However,
instead Jesus said, “You
give them something to eat.” The
disciples responded that they couldn’t possibly afford to feed that many
people. So Jesus worked a miracle as he used five
loaves of bread and two fish to feed more than five thousand people.
Now, here Jesus is again with a
large group of hungry people. Yet this
time, the disciples don’t look very good from the start. In chapter six it was they who came to Jesus
at the end of the day and raised the question.
At least they showed an awareness of the peoples’ need. This time, three
days have passed and it is Jesus who has compassion on the people. He is the one raises the question. The disciples are apparently oblivious the
crowd’s need.
There are times when that describes
us. We are most concerned about
“me.” We gauge situations based on the
impact they will have on us. We think
about how we can make things easiest on ourselves. Operating in this way it is
so easy to be oblivious to the needs of others.
And I am not only talking about physical needs. We find it easy to ignore the person who is
lonely or sad – the person who needs encouragement or the simple expression of
concern and care. We fail to see how
some of our time directed toward another person can be a great benefit to him
or her.
When Jesus pointed out the need, the
disciples’ focus was on their location.
They said, “How
can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” It is as if the feeding of the five thousand
had not happened. They had forgotten
that it was Jesus who was located in
their midst.
On the one
hand, it seems stunning. The disciples have seen Jesus feed a crowd of more
than five thousand people. And now, when
confronted with another hungry crowd they only think about the challenge in the
ways of the world. They don’t allow the presence of Jesus to affect their
thinking.
We do the
same thing. When someone hurts us, we
get angry and want to get pay back. When
things do not go as we had planned, we are quick to conclude that God is not caring
for us. We make plans and take actions without thinking about how faith in
Jesus Christ should affect those things.
Jesus
Christ did not factor into the way the disciples were thinking. They thought about it only in the way our
fallen world works. Yet in doing so,
they ignored that Jesus Christ was there.
The first
thing to recognize about Jesus is that he
has compassion on us. This note of
Jesus’ compassion rings through in both feeding miracles. The first time we hear: “When he went ashore
he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like
sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things.” Our Lord had compassion on them and so we began
to teach them. He fed them
spiritually. Now in our text Jesus says,
“I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days
and have nothing to eat.” Our Lord sees their physical need and wants to help
them.
Yet the
thing about Jesus is that he doesn’t just want to help. He also has the power to do something about
it. This is true, even when his disciples forget; even when you forget.
Our Lord
learned that the disciples had seven loaves of bread. So he had the crowd to sit down on the
ground. Then he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them
and gave them to his disciples. Then the disciples gave them to the crowd. He blessed a few small fish and did the same
with those. The bread and fish never ran
out. All of the people ate until they were satisfied. They even picked up seven
baskets full of leftovers.
In our text
Jesus works a miracle as he feeds the crowd.
Yet the miracle is about more than just quieting growling stomachs.
Immediately before our text, Jesus healed a man who was deaf and had a speech
impediment. When the people saw this they
were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even
makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”
In describing the man’s condition,
Mark uses a rare Greek word that occurs elsewhere in the translation of Isaiah
chapter 35. There the prophet describes
the end time salvation that Yahweh is going to provide. Isaiah says, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make
firm the feeble knees. Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear
not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He
will come and save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the
ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the
tongue of the mute sing for joy.”
Jesus’
feeding of the crowd showed that our God
has come. In the person of Jesus
Christ, God’s reign had entered this world to remove sin and all that it has
done to us. Jesus removed our sin by
offering himself on the cross. Our Lord
says in this Gospel, “For even the Son of
Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for
many.” The holy and sinless life of
God’s Son was sacrificed to take away your sins.
He died for you. Yet death could not hold Jesus. Death could not overcome Jesus. On the third
day our Lord defeated death as he rose from the dead. Now, as the risen and ascended Lord, he
continues to work a miracle as he feeds you in his Sacrament Through his called servant the pastor, Jesus
takes bread and wine and gives thanks. He says “This is my body. This is my
blood.” Because they are the risen Lord’s words, that bread and wine is now the
body and blood of Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of
sins. Through his body and blood Jesus
gives you forgiveness and nourishes the new man so that you can continue to walk
in faith.
He works this miraculous feeding as
a foretaste of the feast to come. God
has promised his people a feast. Through Isaiah he said, “On this mountain the LORD of hosts
will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of
rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. And he will swallow up on
this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is
spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD
will wipe away tears from all faces.”
Partaking now of the Sacrament of his body and blood, you know that you
will share in the Lord’s resurrection on the Last Day. You will share in the feast of salvation that
has no end.
In a few
moments Jesus will invite you once again to receive his Sacrament. Our Lord will be present in his body and
blood as he gives us forgiveness and life.
Because he does, we are reminded Jesus is with us. The Lord does this so that his presence affects
our thinking.
Since Jesus
comes to us in this way and gives us this gift, how can we think about things
in the way of the world? Our Lord has
had compassion on us, so now we seek to have compassion on others in the many
ways this can take place. Our Lord has
forgiven us, so we now we forgive others and seek reconciliation with them. Our
Lord will continue to do this for us as we eagerly look for his return on the
Last Day and marriage feast of the Lamb that will have no end.
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